A media literacy site for parents and educators.

Gender

Gender (masculine/feminine, man/woman) is a social construct while sex (male/female) is a biological construct. (Edgar and Sedgwick 139)

There are a number of stereotypes associated with each gender. For example, baby girls are often dressed in pink and baby boys are often dressed in blue to signify their gender.

Masculinity and femininity are sometimes understood as opposites (or binary oppositions) in which masculinity is depicted as tough, intelligent (mind), and active, while femininity is depicted as weak, unintelligent (body), and passive.

This is a problem because in film we often see men as the heroes and women as the damsels in distress.